New research provides insights about children at risk

New research provides insights about children at risk of
adverse childhood experiences

Auckland University of
Technology research funded by the Ministry of Social
Development’s Children and Families Research Fund looks at
the prevalence, school readiness outcomes and protective
factors around adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in New
Zealand children.

ACEs include experiences of parental
separation or divorce, depression in a parent and
incarceration of a parent.

International studies have
consistently found a group of up to 10 specific childhood
experiences associated with poor outcomes later in life. The
AUT researchers found that a child’s performance in
cognitive tests at four-and-a-half years of age declined in
direct correlation with the number of ACEs they had
experienced.

The researchers also found that more than
half of New Zealand children will have an adverse childhood
experience before they are four-and-a-half years old, which
is on a par with findings from other international research
on ACEs.

The quality of the mother-partner relationship
and parental health and wellness were identified as
protective factors that may allow some children to
experience no ACEs, despite being at heightened risk of
experiencing multiple ACEs. The quality of the
mother-partner relationship included having co-parenting
support, the strength of the partnership and warmth in the
relationship.

"To arrive at their findings, the
researchers used data gathered from 5,562 of the families in
the Growing Up in New Zealand study. Growing Up in New
Zealand is a contemporary longitudinal study looking at
child development in New Zealand. The children participating
in the study are turning ten years old and are broadly
generalisable to the children born in New Zealand in 2009
and 2010," said Rob Hodgson, General Manager Insights
MSD.

"The value of the Growing Up in New Zealand study is
realised through research providing insights that informs
the design of policies and services that better support the
diversity of families and children in New Zealand
today."

Download the research reports Protective factors
of children and families at highest risk of adverse
childhood experiences and Adverse childhood experiences and
school readiness outcomes here.

Background:

Growing Up in New
Zealand (GUiNZ) is New Zealand’s largest longitudinal
study of child development. The University of Auckland study
is following a cohort of around 6,800 children born in 2009
and 2010. Read about GUiNZ here.

The Ministry of
Social Development funds Growing Up in New Zealand, and
administers and funds the Children and Families Research
Fund. Through the research fund, $750,000 is made available
each year for policy-relevant research projects using GUiNZ
data. Read about the research fund here.

The views and interpretations in
funded research reports are those of the researcher(s) and
are not the official position of the Ministry of Social
Development.

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